


Operation Save Suri

by Lizardbeth



Category: Suri's Burn Book
Genre: Gen, Tumblr, Tumblr: surisburnbook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-18
Updated: 2012-12-18
Packaged: 2017-11-21 12:10:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/597600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizardbeth/pseuds/Lizardbeth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When news devastates Suri, a secret team of superkids rallies to help her.<br/>(Yes, of course it was Kingston's idea.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Operation Save Suri

**Author's Note:**

  * For [discolucy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/discolucy/gifts).



> Thanks very much to my beta and to the very funny Tumblr which inspired this. 
> 
> Obviously these are the names of actual children, but the events in this story are purely fictional. Well, except for one, which started out as something I was making up for the story and then it turned out to be true. Sometimes real life trumps us.

**Cast:**  
Suri Cruise  
Violet Affleck  
Seraphina Affleck  
Kingston Rossdale  
Cruz Beckham  
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt  
Zahara Jolie-Pitt

* * *

Suri decided walking to school was acceptable today so she could display her new Dolce & Gabbana coat in a beautiful shade of cranberry. 

Katie was, of course, dressed in some embarrassing mishmash of gray leggings, brown boots, and a tan coat from two years ago. The scarf was really the cherry-on-top-of-horror, though: a hideous flowery thing that must have come into existence wrapping retail floral arrangements. Or maybe those scarves bred in the depths of bag lady carts. In theory, Suri understood not being ostentatious in sympathy with the storm victims, but this was taking it to fashion victim extremes.

Suri's hope was that Katie would soon get a decent role where she would stop dressing herself, but whenever Suri asked, the answer was always that Katie was busy taking care of Suri and wouldn't Suri prefer her at home than away at work? 

The answer to that was that Suri would prefer Katie to be less humiliating in public, and she wasn't picky about how it happened, but Suri had learned some tact with the people who bought the cupcakes and took her to Fashion Week. So she just smiled winsomely back at Katie in answer.

The walk took past them past the newsstand, where Suri saw that the Trailer Trash was breeding. At least Jessica would be pregnant for another ten years before inflicting the world with her spawn again.

But _US Weekly_ had news of another pregnancy. 

Oh God. This couldn't be true. 

She yanked her hand from Katie's to stare at the magazine cover. Her heart was beating too fast, and she couldn't breathe for the shock of it. No. This couldn't be. All her nightmares were coming true. First Blue Ivy and now this… 

It was lies. It had to be lies. Who knew better than Suri what sort of lying rag that magazine was? 

And yet… what if it were true? 

The air seemed thick, and strangely dark and whirling, and the sidewalk was undulating. It should stop that. It was very inconsiderate of people trying to walk in cute Mary Janes. 

And it was going to get dirt on her coat.

"SURI!" She heard Katie's voice from far away. Her hands grabbed at Suri’s shoulders. Katie probably had torn a hole in her abominable leggings diving to catch Suri, hopefully they'd go in the trash finally. 

Suri's last thought was to hope no one took pictures of this humiliation. 

She was not that lucky.

* * *

On the other side of the continent, as Cruz was getting ready for school, his phone buzzed with an incoming message, rattling against the top of his desk. He could hear Mother singing to Harper downstairs and so he didn’t answer it right away to listen to her.

But when he turned the phone over, he saw the message was from Levi McConaughey, who was living in New York. The text said " _Thought U should know. Going viral._ ” and a You Tube Link. 

Cruz followed the link to see it was a cellphone video of Suri fainting on the sidewalk in New York. 

And okay, he laughed. At first. Because that was funny as hell watching her tip over backward. At least she hadn't face-planted.

But then he noticed the desperate fear in Katie's face as she looked around for help, and he grew concerned, because it was unlike Suri to make such an embarrassing display of herself. 

By the time he got to school, the word had spread. Her former classmates were bent over their phones, watching You Tube on the school's wifi. Some were laughing, but Violet was frowning and she murmured to him on her way to the restroom, "Meet at recess."

He nodded, agreeing. Violet gathered the rest of their group surreptitiously, into the north corner of the playground.

"This is about Suri, right?" Zahara asked. "She's just sick or something. And unfortunately she was caught on camera. It'll pass." 

Violet shook her head. "No, that's not it. If you look at the video more closely you can see it -- she saw the cover of US Weekly with the news of the baby." 

Zahara rolled her eyes. "Come on, why would Suri believe that? It's not true. How would they scoop the British tabloids?"

"No, it's true," Kingston spoke up. "I got a text from Moses. One of Apple's friends at school is Lady Louise, and she told Apple it's true. They're about to go public with it."

"Lady Louise?" Seraphina asked, blankly. 

"You don't know?" Shiloh asked, taunting, until Zahara gave her a look that suggested bratty little sisters better sit down and shut up. Shiloh did so, but reluctantly, and with a lot of pouty lip.

Cruz explained to Seraphina patiently, "The daughter of Prince Edward." 

"Oh. She's a princess?"

"Not exactly," he said. "It's complicated."

"And it doesn't matter, right now. We're here about Suri," Violet reminded them. 

Seraphina shrugged. "Why do we care? She hates us." 

Shiloh nodded -- in this the two younger ones were in agreement. Suri rarely had a nice thing to say about either of them.

"Besides," Seraphina added spitefully, knowing Shiloh had her back on this, "She's such a bitch, pretending she's so much better than us. Well, one of our dads is gonna get another Oscar this season and it's not hers."

"Sera, that's rude," Violet reproved.

But Seraphina got up on her knees. "It's true. She thinks she's such a princess, but the truth is, her dad's such a whackjob Katie couldn't take it anymore, and Suri treats her own mother like trash. And then she has the nerve to call us losers." 

"Yeah," Shiloh agreed, "she says I'm an attention whore, and yet she's the one with the blog." 

"Well, you do occasionally…." Cruz teased and flinched back when Shiloh tried to smack him. 

"She's jealous," Violet explained gently. "I feel sorry for her. That's all she has, you know. All of us here, our parents are still together. She sees in the photos that our families are happy and hers isn't. So she says we dress badly, and you know what? I do. I don't care. I never have. I dress how I want, and I know my parents love me and each other and that's all that matters." 

That quieted them all, as they thought about it. Her eyes, magnified owlishly by her glasses, traveled the circle. "We need to do something to help her. We're still her friends." 

Cruz wondered just when Violet had become their leader, but she had, and everyone listened to her. Even Shiloh. 

"All right," Kingston agreed. "But what can we do?"

"I can text her," Cruz suggested. "Let her know we're thinking of her." 

"Sure, you can do that, Cruz, but we need something else," Violet said. "we need a plan."

"Like a quest," Kingston suggested eagerly. "A mission for our superhero team."

Zahara rolled her eyes. "We're not superheroes, Kingston."

"We could be," he said. "And we have to rescue Suri."

"If we're gonna be a team, I want to be Mulan!" Shiloh suggested and giggled, waving around a pretend sword. 

"She's not a superhero," Kingston objected. 

"Shut up, she is, too."

"I want to be Elektra like Mommy," Seraphina announced with a glare at her sister, as if Violet might contest it.

"Batman," Cruz said, as if there was any doubt at all. Christian Bale got on with dad, since he still liked proper football even if he was American now, and had invited all the brothers to the premiere of the last movie, knowing they were fans.

"The point is what to do," Violet tried to redirect them to the point at hand. "Operation Save Suri is fine, but what else can we do?"

Zahara suggested, "There's nothing Suri enjoys more than judging all of us. So how about we make it irresistible? Dress as badly as we can to pull her out of her depression?"

Kingston snorted. "She'll probably like our clothes."

Zahara shrugged. "Either way, it's a win." 

Violet nodded agreement. "That sounds great. The next day or two make sure some pap catches you in the worst outfit you can get away with. I'm going to wear my shiny pink leggings and a cardigan. Maybe rain boots if they still fit. If that doesn't provoke a post, I don't know what will."

"Don't forget the scrunchie," Shiloh advised as she and Seraphina dissolved into giggles. 

Operation Save Suri, Phase One, was underway.

* * *

Kingston knew he had the easy part of the mission. His mother had a concert, so he dressed up in his very best rocker gear, including torn jeans, tanktop and wide belt, and got Zuma to wear his favorite old t-shirt that had mom's face fading on it. Even Dad looked askance at wearing it out because it had been relegated to the mud-and-paint bin, but when Zuma threatened a fit, he shrugged and let it go. 

There were photographers all over the place. Kingston was feeling pretty smug about his chances to get a scathing comment in Suri's blog. 

But there was nothing.

* * *

Cruz had a bit of a problem following the plan. His mother wouldn't let him out of the house looking slovenly, but at least when Harper was hungry, the eagle eyes weren't quite as attentive. She let him get away with cargo shorts and white socks with his trainers. 

But as with Kingston, Suri said nothing about it. She never even texted him to demand what strange alien had possessed him.

* * *

Zahara organized all her siblings into their photo op while shopping. Shiloh was still annoyed that they were trying to save Suri at all, but she enjoyed the opportunity to throw a hissy fit in public and wear nine shades of pink lace all at once. It was kind of fabulous to see her sister in something so girly for a change, but Zahara kept her opinion to herself, so Shiloh wouldn’t start ripping it off. 

For herself, she settled for the most dull grey ensemble she could and tried to look dour in all the photos, until even mom was asking her what was wrong. 

_Trying to provoke Suri_ , didn't seem like a good answer, so she made up something about missing England instead.

And yet even the entire Jolie-Pitt clan was not enough bait.

* * *

Violet knew that if her metallic pink leggings provoked no response, Suri was too far gone. Something bigger was necessary. 

"Pumpkin, what's going on?" Mom asked her, frowning worriedly. "You seem bothered by something the last few days."

"Just worried about Suri. I heard she's still on bed rest," Violet answered. 

Her mom stroked her hair. "She'll be fine. She's just a little sick. Do you want to make her a get-well-soon card? She'd like that." 

Violet nearly snorted at that. Suri would roll her eyes so hard at a handmade card, but Violet wanted to do it anyway. "I will. That's a good idea."

Then because she could never imagine calling her mother by her first name or having her parents split up, because that was _horrible_ , Violet sat up and hugged her. "Love you, Mommy." 

"You, too, Sweetie. Sweet dreams." 

But after the light was out and door shut behind her, Violet stayed awake for a time, thinking, and eventually gave up attempting to sleep. She padded silently to her desk to grab her iPad. Then, burrowing under the covers she started to research other ways to rouse and comfort her friend.

* * *

"It's been two days of wearing the worst clothes I own, and all for nothing," Kingston complained. "Her blog's been silent and she won't answer the phone."

"My mom suspects something's going on," Cruz added. "I don't think I can keep doing it."

"You might as well go back to normal," Violet answered. "This idea isn't working. She's too far gone."

"Then what else can we do?" Zahara asked. "We're here, she's in New York."

"I… have an idea," Violet said, a little more hesitantly than was her usual. She held out her iPad. "I found this." 

Shiloh and Seraphina crowded around as if they could read it, and Cruz had to wrench it from them to look at it. He raised his gaze to hers, concerned. "This … is strong stuff, Violet. Are you sure?"

"What choice do we have?"

Zahara raised her brows. "But still… that's like … magic. It's dangerous. Trust me, I was on the set for _Maleficent_. You don't mess with this stuff lightly." 

"This is good and helpful, not evil," Violet retorted.

Kingston tugged the iPad from Cruz, looked at it, and shrugged. "We won't get anywhere without taking a risk. I say we do it. What harm could it do?"

"Do what?" Shiloh demanded impatiently. "What are you talking about?"

"We're going to invoke a powerful spirit," Violet answered calmly. "After school on the playground. I'll get what we need."

* * *

Violet often found that a reputation for goodness paid a lot more dividends than being a brat. For instance, would any of the other children be allowed to wander through the admin area without challenge? No, but everyone assumed she had some reason to be there, because Violet was not a trouble-maker. She found Mrs Peterson's office open and unoccupied, because she was in the science room, so it was easy to sneak in and grab her cigarette lighter. 

She snagged the display candle and the right magazine, off the waiting area table, and hid her loot in her favorite sweater (Suri had already sniffed at it for being shapeless and colorless, but it was soft and comfy). Then Violet returned to class and put the bathroom pass back on the hook, and gave a surreptitious thumbs up to Kingston. 

After school was over and they were all on the playground to wait for pickup, she knew she had to hurry. Shiloh and Zahara would probably be the first to leave, since their nanny was punctual, but at least rounding up all the clan took a little while. Violet beckoned the group up to the top of the play structure and she sat in the top of the tube slide where no one could see her. 

The others climbed up and sat in a circle. As Shiloh squirmed into place, wriggling and shoving her sister closer to Kingston, Violet opened the magazine to the right page. 

Then tried to light the candle, but she couldn't get the lighter to work. Kingston took it from her, and he managed, lighting the candle. It was pretty, casting a soft light onto her friends. But Cruz glanced over his shoulder nervously, hearing one of his brothers yell that Mom was on her way. 

"Let's do this."

Violet cleared her throat. "Everybody hold hands." She took Seraphina's hand and Kingston's and when the circle was complete, she looked at the photo, "We ask for your intervention, benevolent and beautiful spirit, to comfort our friend Suri in her time of need..."

* * *

It was so dark in this place. Dark and cold and full of shadows, and Suri couldn't find her way out. Not that she was sure she wanted out, knowing what awaited her there. 

Her dad's voice on the phone was distant and wasn't enough to pull her out. Katie's hand on her face and smoothing her hair, and her soft, worried voice wasn't enough. It would never be enough. 

_Suri. Why such despair?_ another voice asked quietly, and somehow this had the power to draw her attention. 

Suri turned, in this formless dark place, to see … an angel. There was a young woman, with long hair of beautiful tumbling curls, and dark eyes soft with love… and although her gold-colored gown should have been tacky and awful, instead it was _perfect_. She was barefoot and somehow even that was perfect. 

Suri stared in awe. "Who are you?" she whispered. 

The woman smiled. " _You know._ "

Suri's lips parted and she realized. "Oh, my God, you're Blue Ivy. Grown up."

Blue Ivy nodded once, gracefully. " _Your friends called on me, Suri, to give you comfort. You are stronger than this, Suri. You picked yourself up when I was born, and you need to do the same for HRH the Baby of Cambridge. This is not the end of all things, only a lesson you must learn._ " 

"A lesson? Of what?"

" _You are not the only princess in the world, and no media spotlight lasts forever._ "

Suri pouted at that, but nodded reluctantly.

" _Remember, the child may need your advice_ ," Blue Ivy said. " _As I did. Now wake, and ease your mother's worry before she gets too pale and wrinkled._ " 

"Thank you, Blue Ivy," Suri called to her, as the shadows started to fade away and light crept in. 

For a moment, Blue Ivy seemed lit by a spotlight from above, smiling beautifully, and then she was gone. 

Suri opened her eyes to find Katie asleep in the chair next to her bed. Truly she did look a hot mess, wearing a tanktop and sweats, and her hair all mussed. Her face was bare of make-up and even in sleep, she looked ill and tired. 

Sitting up, Suri reached for the hand draped over the edge of the chair. "Mama?" she whispered. 

Katie's eyes opened and lit with joy when she saw Suri was awake. Her arms clasped Suri tightly, and when Suri felt tears on her neck, she knew Katie's eyes were getting all red. But this once, Suri thought it was okay, because hers were, too.

* * *

What was not okay were those metallic pink leggings Violet Affleck had sported last week. And were those frog galoshes she was wearing? Even the photographer had tried to keep them out of the photo.

Suri posted the picture with the caption: "Here's Violet Affleck proving that her personal fashion abyss truly has no end." 

The photo was almost immediately reblogged by tumblr account purpleduck: 

_Glad you're back, Sweetie. We missed you._

The message prompted Suri to look at the top of her dresser, where there was a hand-made card. The drawing on the front was supposed to be herself in the cranberry jacket standing on a sidewalk, though it looked more like a maroon rabbit in a cage (Violet’s art skills were not exactly museum quality). Inside, there was a message from her friends: _Get well soon!_

Despite the mean things she'd said sometimes, they all had signed it. The whole thing reeked of Violet's good-naturedness. 

And with a little sigh -- because how could she be friends with someone whose taste was so … Target? -- Suri texted her. 

Suri put the phone down and looked at the photo of Violet again, realizing that Violet had worn that hideousness on purpose. 

It was _tactical_ fashion. It wasn't beautiful and it wasn't tasteful, but it had gotten the desired reaction. And that made it great. 

Her finger hovered on the button to delete the image from her blog. 

But then Suri saw the photo of Kingston going into the concert, and yes, some allowances had to be made for his parents being musicians, but that? 

There was no excuse for that belt. Not ever. 

 

 _the end._


End file.
